How to Discover a Career You Love

Society forces us to determine what career path we want to take at a young age. The minute we graduate high school, we should be headed in the right direction of our ideal career. But it’s no surprise that many of us find ourselves a few years into our careers and realizing that what our chosen path may have been the wrong one.

So how do we set ourselves back out on the path to our ideal career that we thrive in and enjoy? Here are some things you can try and ask yourself.

Analyze your past jobs

Take a look at all the jobs you’ve had in the past, whether part-time or full-time careers. List all of them on a piece of paper and write what you liked and disliked about each of these jobs. Think details! Just saying you hated the job isn’t enough. What was it about the job that you didn’t like? Or what did you like? By analyzing your past jobs, you’ll get a good idea of the bits and pieces of things you enjoyed while working, which will help you determine what to look for in future jobs or professions.

Focus on your passions

On top of your list of likes from past jobs, list out your passions. What makes you the happiest? Even if it’s not work-related, write it down. Think about the things would make you excited to get out of bed every day to head to work to do. By doing this, you may start to open up doors of places that you never thought about looking for employment at.

For example, if you love yoga, and have a background in business, maybe you’d enjoy a career where you are working for a yoga studio or retail store helping them with business administration.

Try new things

You may feel stuck on not knowing what your ideal career is, but sitting there and not trying to find what it is isn’t going to get you anywhere. If you are feeling unmotivated and unhappy in your career path so far, start to put yourself out there and try new things. Trying new things will help open your mind to other possibilities and help you discover what you may like and dislike. Sign up for a class at the library, read a book about something you know nothing about, go for coffee to pick someone’s brain about the field they work in. Start exploring new options and you never know what you may discover.

Don’t stop striving for it

Once you have an idea of the fields or professions that may interest you, start researching! Determine what skills and qualifications may be required for you to get into that profession, and figure out how you are going to get yourself there. Often times we have a realization that we don’t love what we do, but we’re too lazy and okay with settling to actually do something about it. Who cares if you spent buckets of money to go to school for something you ended up not liking, as cheesy as it sounds, we only get one shot at life, so find what makes you happy!

About the Author

Lauren Marinigh is a Toronto-based online marketing and content development professional, who is completely addicted to traveling, puppies, and GIFs.

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